Gators still have love for the Ol' Ball Coach

FILE - In this Sept. 23, 2000, file photo, Florida coach Steve Spurrier watches the action against Kentucky in an NCAA college football game as starting quarterback Jesse Palmer applauds in Gainesville, Fla. Spurrier's Gamecocks will have a chance to do something Saturday, Nov. 13, they have never done in 12 tries--beat the Gators in their stadium--to give the coach a shot at his seventh Southeastern Conference title. A loss will give Florida the SEC East and a chance to win its ninth SEC title. Spurrier won the Gators' first one in 1993. (AP Photo/Peter Cosgrove, File)

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, right, calls for a play during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Arkansas at Williams-Brice Stadium, in Columbia, S.C., Saturday, Nov. 6, 2010. Arkansas won 41-20. (AP Photo/Brett Flashnick)

COLUMBIA, S.C. - At one point this week, South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier dismissed talk about his Florida coaching days.

"That's been too long ago. It really has. We already hashed that out about six years ago," Spurrier said.

Then a few minutes later, he enthusiastically recalled almost every play from his Gators win in 2000 over the Lou Holtz-led Gamecocks, the only other time South Carolina had a chance to go to the Southeastern Conference title game.

"We won in Atlanta that year also. So it was the last championship I've been a part of. Certainly I remember about every play," Spurrier said.

Spurrier's Gamecocks will have a chance to do something Saturday they have never done in 12 tries - beat the Gators in their stadium - to give the coach a shot at his seventh SEC title. A loss will give Florida the SEC East and a chance to win its ninth SEC title. Spurrier won the Gators' first one in 1993.

Since coming to South Carolina, Spurrier has changed his nickname from the Ol' Ball Coach to the Head Ball Coach and repeatedly talked about his determination to turn South Carolina's long mediocre program around.

But part of him will always stay at The Swamp where his name is in the ring of honor, the 1966 Heisman Trophy he won as Florida quarterback sits in a museum by the stadium and the people who play there like to say "once a Gator, always a Gator."

While Spurrier was reluctant to talk about his Florida days this week, Gators coach Urban Meyer and his players spoke of him fondly. Meyer and his wife have become good friends with the Spurriers and occasionally spend time together.

"I actually lean on him quite a bit about Florida when we get together," Meyer said. "He is Florida. He was the Heisman Trophy winner here and there's never been any attempt to whatsoever to change that. All over this place, and we built it, there's great reminders."

Florida's starting quarterback, John Brantley, grew up with Spurrier. His dad was a quarterback in 1978 when Spurrier took a job with the Gators as quarterback coach, and the two have been golf partners for years.

Brantley said there was no doubt Spurrier understood Gators loyalty when he was being recruited several years ago.

"I've grown up watching him coach and seeing him have success here. I'm sure like he would say, once you're a Gator, you're always a Gator," Brantley said.

Even so, Brantley has enjoyed having Spurrier back on the sideline, even if it is for an SEC East rival.

"I have great respect for coach Spurrier and what he's done here and at South Carolina. He's a great coach," Brantley said.

Spurrier has been gone from Florida for nine seasons, and the coach likes to joke that some of his youngest players don't even remember he coached anywhere else in college.

"They do have my name up there though," Spurrier said of The Swamp. "Some freshman will go in there and say, 'Did coach play ball here?' I'm serious. They may not have known that I played there or coached there."

Spurrier may be fudging things a little. His star freshman quarterback Marcus Lattimore said Spurrier draws on his Florida days often to make a point about being a winner. One of his favorite topics is the Heisman Trophy winner he coached, Gator quarterback Danny Wuerffel.

"He talks about him all the time and how he was a good leader," Lattimore said. "He won the SEC there. He knows what it takes. He's got to relate back to that."